高樓低廈,人潮起伏,
名爭利逐,千萬家悲歡離合。

閑雲偶過,新月初現,
燈耀海城,天地間留我孤獨。

舊史再提,故書重讀,
冷眼閑眺,關山未變寂寞!

念人老江湖,心碎家國,
百年瞬息,得失滄海一粟!

徐訏《新年偶感》

2012年9月19日星期三

古德明: 倒裝句




問:英文倒裝句法(inversion)是怎樣用的?

答:「倒裝」即把動詞置於主詞(subject)之前,那動詞一般是輔助動詞(auxiliary verb)。英文問句通常都用這種句法。

有時,為加強語氣,neverseldomhardlyscarcelylittleonlynot onlyno soonerin / under no circumstancesin neither case等帶否定含義的詞語,置於句前,句子就須倒裝,例如:(1Never have I seen so big an animal(=I have never seen so big an animal我從沒見過這樣龐大的動物)。(2In neither case should you take action(=You should take action in neither case兩個情況之下,你都不要動手)。

outsideinsideonunderalongin front ofherethere等表示方向或所在的副詞(adverbial of place),置於句前,句子也須倒裝,而句中的動詞多是be(即iswere等)、comegoliestand等,例如:(1Inside the room was an old man(=An old man was inside the room房間裏有個老人)。(2Here comes the postman(郵差來了)。留意herethere開頭的句子,假如主詞是代名詞,則不用倒裝,例如:Here he comes

倒裝句法還會用於回應別人的說話,例如Neither / Nor is Peter(彼得也不是)、So should you(你也應該如此)。此外,假設句If I had seen himIf he were to goIf it should rain等,可倒裝為Had I seen himWere he to goShould it rain等。限於篇幅,不詳說了。